Congress demands Pentagon investigate child sex assaults
Published 5:15 pm Thursday, March 15, 2018
Senior members of Congress are calling for hearings and investigations in response to an Associated Press investigation that details how the U.S. military frequently fails to protect or provide justice to the children of service members when they sexually assault each other on base.
In separate letters sent Thursday to Secretary of Defense James Mattis, two senators requested action by the Pentagon’s inspector general and another demanded answers to detailed questions by early April.
Separately, a congresswoman promised to hold a hearing before a House Armed Services subcommittee.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
AP’s investigation showed how many reports of assaults and rapes among kids on military bases get lost in a dead zone of justice, with neither victim nor offender receiving help.